From its foundation in 1768 the Royal Academy of Arts has provided a voice for art and artists. We are an independent charity led by eminent artists and architects—the Royal Academicians—and we pursue our mission through exhibitions, education and debate.

Jock McFadyen RA

Jock McFadyen RA

As a teenager Jock McFadyen attended Saturday morning classes at Glasgow School of Art. In 1966, at the age of 15, he moved to England and was educated at Chelsea School of Art gaining his BA in 1976 and MA in 1977. He also taught one day a week at the Slade School of Art between 1980 and 2005.

In 1981 McFadyen was appointed Artist in Residence at the National Gallery in London. His paintings from the early eighties were populated by the waifs and stays of pre Canary Wharf London, he always said that the figures in his work were not inventions but sightings of individuals and events of the time. In 1991, Jock was commissioned by the Artistic Records Committee of the Imperial War Museum to record events surrounding the dismantling of the Berlin Wall and in 1992, he designed sets and costumes for Kenneth MacMillan’s The Judas Tree, Royal Opera House in 1992. It was at this point that the figure fell away from McFadyen’s work and the full-blown landscape, often a serious comment on life in the modern urban environment, and on a monumental scale, emerged and continues to preoccupy him to this day.

In 2005 he collaborated with his wife Susie Honeyman to create The Grey Gallery, to work with artists, writers and musicians on a project by project basis with the aim to work across all disciplines. Jock currently lives and works in London and Edinburgh. Jock has had over 40 solo exhibitions and his work is held by 30 public collections as well as private and corporate collections in Britain and abroad.

Selected Collections

Amnesty International
Arts Council of Great Britain
Ashmolean Museum, Oxford
BBC
Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery
British Council
British Museum
City of Edinburgh
Contemporary Art Society
Glasgow Art Galleries
The Government Art Collection
The Guildhall, London
Hunterian Art Gallery, Glasgow
The Imperial War Museum
Kunsthalle, Hamburg
Manchester City Art Gallery
The Museum of London
The National Gallery, London
Scottish Arts Council
Tate Gallery, London
The Theatre Museum, London
The Victoria and Albert Museum, London
Whitworth Gallery, Manchester

Selected Publications

2001Beyond Turners Road publication to accompany solo exhibition at Agnew’s, London, with story commissioned from Iain Sinclair
Jock McFadyen, A Book About a Painter, monograph by David Cohen with contributions from other authors, published by Lund Humphries
1999From Orkney and Other Places, publication to accompany solo exhibition for St Magnus Festival at Pier Arts Centre, Stromness, Orkney, prose commissioned from Will Self
1998Looking Out To Sea, catalogue for solo Edinburgh Festival exhibition at Talbot Rice Gallery Edinburgh, with an essay by Duncan Macmillan
1991Fragments from Berlin, catalogue for solo exhibition at Imperial War Museum London, Kelvingrove Glasgow and Manchester City Art Gallery, with foreword by Angela Weight and essay by Tom Lubbock
Canal, catalogue for solo exhibition at William Jackson Gallery, London, with an introduction by Jeffery Camp and an essay by Howard Jacobson

Piccadilly site

Burlington Gardens site

A voice for art and artists since 1768

The Royal Academy of Arts is an independent charity and does not receive revenue funding from government. We are entirely reliant upon the support of visitors, our loyal Friends, Patrons, donors and sponsors to continue our work. Your support is our future.